Frogbit shows problems even with Ei dosing...

[Ovidiu]

Hello everyone,

I dont seem to understand why my frogbits show signs of deficiency although i am dosing EI 15ml macro and 10ml micro every other day with one day break before i do the w/c. I use one osram 865 39w 7 hours a day with 3ml of excel daily. I also have 20 rummy nose tetras and one angelfish and for filtration i use one hydor professional 600 and one eheim classic 2217.

I know people use these plants for the duckweed index and for a low tech/low light the amount i am dosing daily seems a bit much. I dont know what to think of this... maybe overdosing micros?

Am i doing something wrong?

 

[doylecolmdoyle]

from my experience frogbit doesn't like excel, I stopped dosing excel and my frogbit was lush and solid colour, recently I started up with excel again to try fight some BBA and my frogbit is starting to suffer again, looking a bit ratty and browning slightly

 

[JMorgan]

Looking at your photo the newer smaller leaves look really good - its only the older ones that are tatty. I dont know what that means, but I'm aware that frogbit seems prone to "mechanical" injury in that its happiest being very stationary but when its being moved about by a filter out put it can look shabby - plus lens burn from water droplets etc. It goes crazy in my shrimp tank with just sponge filters and is growing insanely in a cold water tank with nothing in it I was trying to start a daphnia culture in: no ferts no filtration no water movement at all now, and I don't even remember to switch the light on some days as its not hooked up to the other timer strips. Once the roots have grown down to anchor it it also perks up even with moderate flow. Just some thoughts.

Interesting about the excel - I rarely use it but good to know.

 

[Ovidiu]

Now im even more confused. So what im experiencing is not part of any deficiency and its just bad reaction from excel?

 

[G H Nelson]

Hi
It could be water droplet damage from a cover....if not a open top aquarium!
Or snail damage due to eggs being laid on the underside of the frogbit!
Cheers hoggie

 

[Ovidiu]

I have an open top aquarium and i bought the frogbit 2 weeks ago and cleaned it and what you see now is only after one week.


Cheers

 

[G H Nelson]

Hi
If you have splashing water or the plant submerges occasional this could cause this sort of damage!
Look for snail damage on the sponge part of the frogbit aso!
Cheers hoggie

 

[doylecolmdoyle]

Now im even more confused. So what im experiencing is not part of any deficiency and its just bad reaction from excel?

May not be from excel, just something I have noticed.

 

[JMorgan]

If you've only had it two weeks then YOUR water is growing the healthy nice green new stuff. The fact that its obviously producing new leaves I would have thought is a good sign. I'd ignore the older leaves that weren't grown in your tank, possibly they're dying off as a kind of "melt" type adjustment to your water? I really don't know - just a guess. But either way the important thing is surely what happens to the new growth?

Oh another factor - in my 200L tank my angels snack on the frogbit roots so they never get very long. This seriously reduces their perkiness, though it doesn't seem to kill them off completely. In all the other smaller tanks I have to remove a ton of root growth every few weeks or it would soon cover the entire surface and cut off too much light. I want to do a tank with very low light plants and let this happen someday. My point is that this very strong root development is my clearest indicator that its thriving along with it producing new leaves and sending out runner 'babies'. Hope that helps? Give it a few more weeks in any case

 

[Ovidiu]

Really good info, thank you!.. I will definetly give it few more weeks and see what's going to happen and in the meantime i will slowly decrease the excel dose just to be sure its not a bad reaction from it.

Cheers

 

[dw1305]

Hi all,

The fact that its obviously producing new leaves I would have thought is a good sign

I'd agree with <"@JMorgan">, the new leaves look OK.

I'd ignore the older leaves that weren't grown in your tank, possibly they're dying off as a kind of "melt" type adjustment to your water?

The circular pits and holes, in the older leaves, look like either lensing damage from where water droplets have splashed on the leaves, or possibly snail damage.

cheers Darrel

 

[Ovidiu]

Thanks for all the good info guys. I will keep an eye on the new leaves and just clean off the old and damaged ones.

Cheers!